There are brilliant scholars and there are enthralling teachers. We want to help you merge these qualities. SemClass posts support the student/teacher relationship in ways that bring energy and expertise to both sides of the podium. »

From LMS to MOOC, the technology of teaching is changing faster than we can keep up. Once confident about our content, we are now being asked to present it in radical new ways. Do you need some support in this? Our SemTech bloggers can help. »

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The world of higher academics is in flux. Private, public, and seminary institutions are remaking themselves. Studies about how and why students learn are transforming classrooms. Our SemTrends bloggers will help you stay on top of it. »

I usually don’t see the fork in the road at the time I take it. It’s only looking back that I can say, “Huh. Made a choice there.” Or, occasionally, “Huh. Made a meaningful choice there.”

As 2008 slid into 2009, a recent addition to the rank of PhDs and already-long-time member of the adjunct-faculty class, I read a blog post–I suppose for me in that year it must have been a blog post, rather than a Tweet or a Facebook status update–by Dr. A.K.M. “Akma” Adam, recommending his readers’ attention to a *then* recent digital learning video by Michael Wesch. It was “A Portal to Media Literacy” (2008), following upon Wesch’s “The Machine is Us/ing Us” (2007). Both presentations concern learning and the digitization of text…

If you’re already rolling your eyes about the idea of using Twitter, then STOP! Yes, the name sounds silly, but I’m willing to bet that hasn’t been a deal-breaker for you concerning “Google.” This post is your chance to do your homework (I’m talking especially to you, reader with a research degree!), so that if you choose not to start using Twitter, then you can reject it like an adult. But I don’t think you will…

In “contract grading,” the student and instructor agree at the outset what grade the student is going for, and what is needed to earn that grade. Of course, this could describe the point of many syllabi. What distinguishes “contract grading” (at least the examples I have seen) is that the student decides which assignments she will do and which assignments she won’t do. Also, in most examples I have seen, the work is assessed on a “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” basis. I have been looking closely at “contract grading,” and am planning to implement some version of it for my 2014–15 courses…

My first forays into online learning were projects undertaken to address the “scarcities” of the face-to-face classroom. These were “embellishments” on the classroom that I discussed at the time in terms of collaboration, diffusion, and asynchrony. The “flipped classroom” stands too as a widespread attempt to address the scarcities of the brick-and-mortar learning space. This is why I find myself approaching “online learning” with an attitude different to some of my colleagues. Where some view the online platforms as threatening to “take away” goods associated with the face-to-face classroom, I had first turned to the online platforms seeking relief from the traditional classroom’s scarcities. In a previous post, I wrote about the face-to-face classroom and its scarcities (particularly time, space, permeability, and malleability). This week, I describe two kinds of online learning space and their own scarcities.

Engaging strangers on Twitter. Teaching an adult-education session in a church. Blogging an interview with a high-profile scholar. When learners accomplish their course work by means of public performance, the common student refrain, “What will I do with this stuff?” becomes “Let’s examine what I’ve done with this stuff!”

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